Paint & Colour

Painted Whites

2012-02-04T11:30:00.000Z

Old White
is a soft cool neutral undemanding white,

like the old whitewash seen here in Norman Rockwell's depiction of Tom Sawyer and the painting of the picket fence!

Old whites are soft like these old French pieces

It's perfect for the Swedish look too

My Old White is the same colour as the old Lead White which is no longer made.

Modern whites are bright made possible because of the Titanium White pigment

which was not generally available until the *1930/40s

SO if you are painting something white and you want it to have that aged look, to be soft and sophisticated like an antique,

don't paint it in bright white!

*(Although it was identified in 1795 it was not until 1921 that an economical method of purifying it was established and then it became very popular because it was such a strong opaque colour)

Annie

2012-01-18T16:44:00.000Z

My Video on YouTube!

If you want to know a little about my shop in Oxford and where I work with my great friends and family - watch this little 3 minute video..

Enjoy

Annie

2012-01-12T08:48:00.003Z

The Winner!

Congratulations to

Misty Brown from Texas who is the lucky winner of a $350 gift certificate from Annie Sloan Unfolded.

She won the basket giveaway through this blogsite: http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/

What a lucky person!!

Nancy Chace of Sea Rose Cottage was the stockist who sponsored the giveaway of the winner!!

(So sorry I was late posting this - I got caught up with so many things yesterday!! )

2012-01-03T01:18:00.000Z

Happy New Year to everyone in Painting land!
I'm starting the year with a warm optimistic colour
Scandinavian Pink
I love it because it is pink but not pink. It is earthy and dusky, yet the colour of a delicate sunset, and it's warm, natural and mellow, and yet can look sophisticated

Carl Larsson's dining room in Sundborn Sweden

Carl Larsson's painting of his bedroom

I was first introduced to this very special colour through the work of Carl Larsson the 19th century Swedish painter. He looked to traditional Swedish decoration and folk work for his

inspiration often using a traditional colour made from a local pigment called Fala Red, a potent red brown ochre/iron oxide earth mixed with copper from the local mines which gives it its distinctive look. He would add various quantities of white to make it softer and used it extensively in his house.

Swedish houses continue to be painted this colour made according to the traditional recipe using the local pigment mixed with rye flour and linseed oil.

A 19th century Swedish secrétaire with the interior painted in this unique Swedish pink.

Aubusson Blue

Chateau Grey

Country Grey
The colours above are all the traditional Swedish farmhouse colours but it also works Duck Egg Blue and also with Old Ochre and Cream

Annie

2011-12-28T00:55:00.000Z

Happy New Year
Hello again and I'm back after a very hectic Christmas break and a beautiful time of quiet
I'm continuing my explanations of my colours.

Château Grey
I made this colour for three reasons

One:

based on the pigment Terre Verte meaning green earth found in Italy, France, Cyprus, Hungary...and the USA. American Shaker box painted simply possibly using natural green earth pigment found in parts of the USA

Two:

It's the colour that was used as an underpainting in old master paintings for flesh - glazed over with red and pink tones - sometimes the reds have faded so the face just looks green!

Three:

In house painting it was known as Drab and was made from mixing all the left over paints together to make a base coat. The above chair is original 19th century French painted cabriole chair leg with a beautiful soft green .

Duck Egg Blue

Scandinavian Pink /Primer Red

It also works with Old White of course!

Chateau Grey is of my favourite colours and one that is useful as it's a colour but not really a colour.

Annie

2011-12-21T18:35:00.000Z

Ben Nicholson

I hope you like this work and it gives you some ideas for your own paint work. It always makes me want to get my brushes out.

He is an English 20th century painter who died about 30 years ago.

You really need to see the paintings in person to see the extraordinary texture and tonal qualities in them but here is a little tease anyway.

I like his abstracted landscapes better than the purely abstract pieces.

The colours are so gentle

Great pattern, texture and shape

great colour combos

Paris Grey

Primer red

Graphite

Annie

2011-12-05T09:24:00.000Z

My American Tour
March- April 2012

So this is what you'll get. This is me!

pics my talented friend Penny Millar took of me recently in my house in Oxford.

I'm starting in New Orleans then on march 16th I'll be in Dallas, then on to San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, Nashville, Atlanta, Virginia and finish up on April 2nd in Boston
.....exact times and dates on www.anniesloanunfolded.com
There will be demos and workshops at all these places!

Contact www.anniesloanunfolded.com to book a place!

Annie

An Aesthete's Lament: Well Said: Lesley Blanch

2011-12-01T10:16:00.000Z

An Aesthete's Lament: Well Said: Lesley Blanch

I've no idea what this means but I love the look of this woman - and I love this blog too

2011-11-29T18:04:00.000Z

Swedish Painted Furniture
Gustavian Neo-classical Decoration

Gunnebo Slott - an 18th century Swedish country house
Everything of course with loads of OLD WHITE!!

Scandinavian Pink and Old White

Paris Grey

Aubusson Blue

Country Grey

Château Grey and Old White

King Gustav III of Sweden was heavily influenced by French politics and French decoration.
After seeing what happened to the French monarchy in the revolution Gustav established a very strong royal rule, curtailing his permissive parliament's reforms
Although in many ways quite autocratic, his interest in culture and intellectual freedom led to a hugely rich cultural heritage.
He introduced French Neo-classical style to Sweden

Gustavian interiors were light and elegant interpretations of the Louis XVI style, with echoes of English, German and Dutch influences

2011-11-27T18:03:00.000Z

Arles

is one of my colours

This is how to say the French say it http://www.forvo.com/word/arles/#fr Quite difficult for our English tongues!

I named it after a town in the south of France

in the area called the Luberon , famous for the vast deposits of yellow ochre pigments in the hills.

All the houses are painted in various ochre pigments from bright yellows, earthy yellows, oranges to earth red.

Famously it's where Van Gogh lived and painted becoming obsessed with yellow. His paintings have heightened concentrated colour

Arles

Château Grey

Old Ochre

To use Arles, which is hot and intense, in our homes you need to use cooling quiet colours such as those above or Country Grey or a lightened version of Paris Grey

Using any blue with it will only make Arles more yellow as blue is the complementary colour - great in a painting but not on a piece of furniture

2011-11-14T09:26:00.001Z

Emperor's Silk
So why do have a bright red and why do I call it such a funny name?

Because I saw this amazing piece of furniture at Uppark House in West Sussex in the south of England and was blown away by it

It was the usual rather flat reddish brown I'd seen on other chinoiserie pieces on the outside
but on the inside it was a vibrant rich red

This is the colour the piece would have originally been.
Stunning with a great deal of impact.
The figures interest me much less than the colour. I sort of ignore them. I want to like them but it doesn't hit the spot for me.
The colour is what makes it all work for me.

Emperor's Silk

Inside and outside the Forbidden Palace, Beijing

This bright clear rich red is the colour of China

It signifies reunion, health, happiness, harmony, peace and prosperity

I now love to use it as often as I can; on chest of drawers, inside drawers, in dressers
or on the inside of a bureau just as in the picture
above where I am working now on my computer!

Country Grey

Old Violet

Emperor's Silk

Annie

2011-11-13T18:02:00.001Z

David Hicks

one of my favourite interior decorators -

making pink & yellow work

When I did my book 'Colour in Decoration' in 1988 I visited a lot of houses for photography. One of the houses was David Hick's house in Oxfordshire and I was lucky enough to meet him there. He showed me the house and talked to me about how he had achieved the looks.

The drawing room, above was a huge shock! Here was a very adult, rather proper English gentleman, married to a great granddaughter of Queen Victoria .....with an outrageous pink and yellow room.
It was wonderful and made me realise that colours have associations but that does not mean that they can't used in less obvious ways.

Antoinette

Cream

French Linen
There was lots of white in the room including white painted French furniture, creamy white china dressed with pink curtains and his trademark geometric carpet in a colour not unlike my French Linen.
It all worked because of the very grounding French Linen colours stopping it looking like a posh nursery.
Of course the fabulous 18th century paintings were helpful too!

2011-11-09T08:52:00.000Z

More on Antibes Green
- And Neo-Classicism

Karl Friedrich Schinkel is one of my heroes !!
Look at one of his rooms done about 1826 for the Charlottenhof Palace, Potsdam, Germany

Look at that green!!!

Neo-Classical Colours and inspiration - taken from my book 'Creating the French Look'

This style of decoration takes the classical themes from ancient Greece and Rome.

It is simple and symmetrical

( as against the pastel coloured, romantic, sometimes flowery twiddly asymmetry of the rococo style)

This is a room by David Hicks the English interior decorator from a room that was probably done in the 1960s or 70s yet it is timeless - could have been yesterday as could have the Schinkel bedroom.

Neo-classical is the way to go

Graphite and Antibes Green

2011-11-06T22:35:00.000Z

Antibes Green

If you want to know how to say like a real frenchie then listen to this - http://www.forvo.com/word/antibes

Early 20th century art is where I constantly return to for sustenance

Antibes is one of the towns between Nice and Cannes in the French Riviera . Now there are billionaires yachts moored in the harbour but it still retains a certain magic and when I visited there a few years ago I cried when I had to leave. ....

The light is incredible...... colours do seem to glow and shimmer

Two paintings by Raoul Dufy

No wonder Antibes was favoured by so many really famous artists in the late 19th & early 20th century.

Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, Bonnard, Derain, and many others worked and lived there.

Picasso on the left and Cap d'Antibes by Monet on the right
This is what made me want to call my brilliant green Antibes.

2011-11-06T18:07:00.001Z

Aubusson Blue

How the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint colour got its name!

Aubusson is a town in central France where weaving has been done since the 14th century. The style for which it is associated can be seen in the two pieces above both from circa 1750.

When I first started decorating in the late 1970s, I used to work in the some pretty wonderful places in London and in country houses. I'd often heard reference to 'taking care of the Aubusson carpet' so I investigated and discovered these fabulous beauties and the incredible blue. All these colours were natural probably indigo dyes so the colour varies with intensity. The piece above looks a little more turquoise than it is really. The top fragment is more accurate.

Look how well it goes with Country Grey & Scandinavian Pink - Coco and French Linen too with Versailles!

Aubusson Blue

Country Grey

Scandinavian Pink with Old White

Louis XV chairs with Aubusson tapestry upholstery

Spots and Dots

2011-11-03T19:46:00.000Z

?...........Spots or Dots ..........?

Well in fact it's meant to be bamboo but I just see it as a dotty chair

and quite modern and rather cool too

But in fact t

his chair was one of a set made by Thomas Chippendale

in about

1768 for
the famous actor of the time David Garrick

The eighteenth century is full of surprises.

I like the painted rush seat

2011-11-02T18:00:00.000Z

Boho Chic

Short for Bohemian Chic and meaning a bit arty - suggesting perhaps it is a style which is maybe a little edgy, unconventional and perhaps adventurous with colour. Picture above is a London house - Marie Antoinette goes to Art School I'd say!

Boho Chic is what people say of me and I am rather happy with that.........but don't pigeon hole me....I am many things!

This is the mantelpiece at Charleston Farmhouse ( see previous posting) - another sort of Boho Chic

2011-11-01T23:48:00.000Z

For many decorative painters Charleston Farmhouse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_Farmhouse in Sussex will probably be one of the most inspirational places they will ever visit. Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell painted there from about 1916 onwards painting not only canvases but also the furniture and the walls in all manner of delightful inspiring and inventive ways. Look at the walls and the fireplace surround above in studio.
Part of a door painted in 1917 by Vanessa Bell ( sister of Virginia Woolf)

The colours and the immediacy of the paintwork is something I aspire too.

2010-02-08T17:36:00.000Z

Yellows

There are very few yellows, compare the number of yellows to the number of blues or greens.... only 15 yellows!

Amber, Yellow Ochre, Gamboge, Topaz, Mustard, - the dark yellows

Canary yellow, Chrome yellow, Golden, Jonquil, Maize, Sunflower,

Lemon; - the slightly greenish cool yellow

Cream, Naples Yellow, - the whitish yellows

Saffron - the orange yellows

Cream

It's a tentative colour, barely there and difficult to use in decorating well.

Arles

Add black to yellow and what have you got - GREEN!!

Fifty Blues

2010-02-08T16:52:00.000Z

I got the Blues

Napoleonic Blue

Air Force blue, Alice blue, Azure, Baby blue, Blue, Bondi blue, Brandeis blue, Cambridge Blue, Carolina blue, Ceil,

Aubusson Blue

Cerulean, Cobalt blue, Columbia blue, Cornflower blue, Cyan, Dark blue, Deep sky, blue Denim, Dodger blue, Duke blue,

Monet Blue - this was a colour I used to make

Egyptian blue, Electric blue, Eton blue, Federal Blue, Forget-me-not Blue, Glaucous,

Han blue, Iceberg, Indigo,

Greek Blue

International Klein Blue, Iris,

Cornish Blue - 1 part Greek Blue to 8 parts Old White

Louis Blue

Midnight blue, Majorelle blue, Maya blue, Midnight blue, Navy blue, Non-photo blue, Palatinate blue, Periwinkle, Persian blue, Powder blue,

Prussian blue, Royal blue, Sapphire, Sky blue, St. Patrick's blue, Steel blue, Teal, Tiffany Blue, Ultramarine, Yale Blue,

Goethe's Colour Triangle

2010-02-08T15:39:00.000Z

Goethe found he prefered to arrange colour in the form of a triangle. It is arranged in some ways like the colour circle but I agree with Johann, the the triangle is good because you can isolate the groups more easily. I'm not sure if I agree with the names of each of the groupings - but it is easy to see the colour groups. How can yellow, orange and green be called 'serene' for goodness sake?! I find my taste goes to the 'serious', melancholic' and 'mighty', whatever the latter means.

2010-01-18T17:22:00.000Z

Before and after of my armoire. Tres chic, n'est pas?

How to paint an Armoire

2010-01-18T14:17:00.000Z

This French armoire was bought in a local sale in England very cheaply but a little worse for wear and needing a bit of tender loving care. We fixed it up so the door opened and closed properly, then set about painting it.

When something is quite ornate already becasue of the carving, I like to bring this out but not add to much colour and busyness otherwise you detract from the piece of furniture.

1. I first painted it all over in Country Grey, my Chalk Paint the colour of putty.

2. When this was dry I painted just the areas which were raised carving in Old White, my white which is like the colour of chalk.I just used the edge of the brush to put the white in rather than being very careful to help with the distressed look.

3. With a big brush and clear wax I brushed all over the dry paintwork

4. After wiping off any excess wax I then sanded the raised carving rubbing through to the Country Grey underneath and to the wood in some places.

5. I then appled some dark wax all over the carving and in the corners of the panels too then wiped off the excess leaving some quite dark wax in some places.

Red Chairs

2010-01-11T16:28:00.000Z

The red chair backs are in both the painting by Emile Nolde

and the dining room at Charleston in Sussex

There's loads of black and blues too in both pictures but the balance is different so they look different. You can the colours from the Nolde but not use them so intensely.

Inspiring stuff to get you going on a room.

Goya's Brushwork

2010-01-10T16:37:00.000Z

I like the broad wide bands of colour that Goya used that probably developed from designing tapestries that couldn't be too fussy and detailed.

Francis Cadell, Scottish Colourist

2010-01-09T10:33:00.000Z

Francis Cadell (1883 - 1937) Scottish colourist. I am so impressed by the way the slabs of cool colours are used with just a little of the hot orange and pink.

Craigie Aitchison

2010-01-08T19:58:00.001Z

Craigie Aitchison died on December 21st 2009 aged 83. Beautiful colour. Look out for his other work.
He was Scottish and highly influenced by Gauguin. http:

Old Violet

2009-12-27T18:55:00.000Z

Deep Old Violet with touches of a deep Burgundian Red with Old White around the edges of the drawers for this painted bureau - there's a beautiful rich red inside.
I owe this colour to Gauguin I think.
This comes from my book, 'Creating the French Look' published in 2008 by Cico.

Welcome!

2009-12-27T17:53:00.000Z

Welcome to Paint & Colour, a blog about my favourite subjects.

From my childhood in Sydney, Australia, there was colour. My Scottish father, probably from a his background of misty greys , soft hues and heather, surrounded himself with strong bright colours in the choice of paintings and fabrics in the home so my family home was filled with colour.

My Fijian mother's domain was the garden and her green fingers meant there was beautiful coloured flowers, fruit and vegetables in abundance.

The house was filled with prints, with Gauguin one of the painters of choice. His understanding of colour and his tonal sense has always been with me.

2009-12-27T17:51:00.001Z